MEANWHILE, JUST HOLD YOUR NOSE

Jeff LyonCHICAGO TRIBUNE

State scientists are investigating the possibility that hog waste lagoons are polluting the ground water.

This comes after it has been conclusively determined that they smell.

Hog waste lagoons are man-made lakes of . . . well, need I tell you? They came into being a few years ago when large hog farms, which raise thousands of pigs in close confinement, began digging pits under their hog sheds to drain waste into lagoons covering up to five acres. Such lagoons hold 270 days of waste, which they are designed to treat via bacterial action.

Unfortunately, the neighbors dislike the odor. And now there are fears that chemicals from the waste are leaking into the water table.